chapter 16 blog

I first heard about National Novel Writing Month ten years ago in 2007. Since this will be my tenth year participating (in some way or another) I have decided to put together a celebratory timeline of my history.

2007: Hears about NaNoWriMo and writes a novel longhand

2008: Remembers NaNoWriMo and writes the sequel to that novel, also longhand

2009: Is in the habit of writing during November, finishes the novel I was already writing - which was part of the same series.

2010: Writes the final novel in that series.

2011: Tries to write my first legitimately good novel with the hopes of one day publishing

2012: Realizes that NaNoWriMo is a legitimate thing I need to sign up for to be officially participating. Acts like a cool hipster who doesn't need to sign up because at this point I've been writing a novel every November for the last five years. Doesn't sign up, writes a novel anyway.

2013: Finally signs up for NaNoWriMo. Writes a book longhand over the course of two weeks, spends the next two weeks complaining about how much typing I have to do. Officially wins NaNoWriMo.

2014: Types the rough draft of the sequel. Officially wins NaNoWriMo. Complains because the editing takes so much longer when factoring in my million typos.

2015: Writes a 60,000 word book under NDA contract, forgets to validate.

2016: Writes a novel longhand, types up the first 30,000 words, realizes the book is waaaaaay too long, gives up on typing and doesn't validate.

2017: Outlines a book that people actually want me to write? Like a professional? Intends to start using NaNoWriMo account to track my progress and network with other writers?

What I've always loved about NaNoWriMo is that it has always inspired me to write. Even with all the years I've been unprofessional and dopey about it, I've finished at least one new book a year every year for the last decade.

I still strongly feel like the best reason to participate in NaNoWriMo is, well, to finish a novel. That being said, there are a lot of other very valid, very noble reasons to join and this year I'm going to start taking those other reasons a little more seriously. This is a great opportunity to interact with a community of writers, to talk about projects that mean a lot to me, and to keep track of my goals.

So stay tuned. Soon I will be announcing this year's project for NaNoWriMo (which I'm really excited about.) I'll also be tracking my progress on the official site as well as on my Writing.Com portfolio.